2016). Even now, about half of our population estimates are only educated guesses. In 2015, the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group estimated the population at 26,000 (range 22,000–31,000)7 but additional surveys published 2015–2017 brought the total to near 28,500. The global polar bear population is currently about 26,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Today. Back then, the best we had over most of the polar bear's range were uneducated guesses. The total number of polar bears worldwide is estimated to be 26,000 (95% CI=22,000–31,000; Regehr et al. The fact is that in the 1960s we had no idea how many polar bears there were.

Today, polar bears are among the few large carnivores that are still found in roughly their original habitat and range--and in some places, in roughly their natural numbers. In total, there are 19 subpopulations: 5 of which occur outside of Canada and 14 of which occur within or overlap with Canada.

The US Geological Survey estimated the global population of polar bears at 24,500 in 2005. Polar bear science has come a long way since then. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne saidat the department’s press conference that the polar bear population increased from "a low of about 12,000 in the late 1960s to approximately 25,000 today. Research begun in the late 1960s and continuing today also provides a thorough backdrop of information on population demographics, systematically analyzed data on population boundaries, population movements, population size, reproductive and survival parameters, and other useful information about biological, physiological, and ecological aspects of polar bears.

The State of the Polar Report 2018 put the new global mid-point estimate [of the polar bear population] at more than 30,000. Although most of the world's 19 populations have returned to healthy numbers, there are differences between them.

Each polar bear subpopulation is delineated with a bold lined polygonal shape and shaded based on the status of the population.